Will Ryan endorsement help Trump in presidential race?

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor,” August 8, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET!

BOLLING: We continue now with breaking news. Donald Trump just announcing his support of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senators McCain and Ayotte.

Rejoining us from Green Bay, FOX News senior correspondent John Roberts who has been covering the Trump campaign along with my colleague from "THE FIVE," Juan Williams. Ric Grenell in Palm Springs. And Lisa Boothe in D.C. John, to you, Donald Trump opened this endorsement up by talking to the hometown crowd about their football team, the Green Bay Packers got them fired up.

A couple of other big moments I'm listening to it, I'm laughing. He said even the baby was happy when Donald Trump had the baby removed from one of his speeches. He got a big round of applause when he endorsed Ryan, McCain, and Ayotte. But a big also round of applause when he said we're going to knock the hell out of ISIS with Russia's support. And now he's still talking. He's almost 30 minutes in.

ROBERTS: Yes, and he'll probably go for another 30 minutes as well, Eric. I'll tell you, this is a different Donald Trump than we have seen all the way along this campaign trail. And I think that a lot of Republicans are looking at this guy, saying where was he a month ago. Because listen to what he said at the very beginning here. He said this is not about me or any one candidate. It's about America. He was reading from notes which was interesting to really stay on message. He said we have done something, all of us together, I'm just a messenger.

He said, I need a Republican Senate and the House to accomplish all of the changes I have to make. I embrace Ronald Reagan's big tent that your 80 percent friend is not your 20 percent enemy. And then he says, as a unified party, we lead our party to unity, we have to win this election, otherwise our big movement was not as big as we thought. We will have disagreements, but we will disagree as friends, and never stop working toward victory, and more importantly, real change. And that's what he endorsed not only Ryan but John McCain, who he said he really wasn't with just earlier this week because he didn't think he's done a good job for the vets and he also endorsed Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire for her re- election.

This is a guy who is now tonight become the leader of the Republican Party on a different level than he's been so far. He sees this idea of the big tent. He sees this idea that Republicans have to be together if they hope to win the election, and I think all that talk that he engaged in weeks ago, Eric, where he said, well, maybe I'll go it alone, that's all gone now. He's the leader of the Republican Party. He's embracing the big tent principles. He is talking about the people that he wants to see work with him should he become president. This is a different guy tonight -- Eric.

BOLLING: Yes. Sure. Lisa, let's talk to you a little bit about some of the things he brought out, some of the lines. He said, it's time for a change. The system is a rigged political system. He also talked about it's a movement behind him. He, as John Roberts points out, he invoked Ronald Reagan's name a couple of times, and then he got into what many people feel where he should be focusing his attack on Hillary. I think he brought out a new line, a new name. He called her the queen of corruption. That's the first time I heard that, I think.

BOOTHE: Well, and I like it, because she sure is the queen of corruption. And look, we do need an on message Donald Trump to win this election. And also, united Republican Party to win this election. He needs the Republican Party not just endorsements of leaders of the Republican Party but also as a utility, he needs their help as a built in campaign infrastructure. The Republican National Committee. He needs those on- ground staffers, he needs the political team, the communications team to help win this election.

But another thing that people aren't really talking about is Hillary Clinton has already spent about $270 million collectively with her Super PAC in paid advertising so far. And that is an area that Donald Trump really needs to turn to, his paid messaging to get his narrative out because we have seen that the media is drastically biased against Donald Trump. And that is a clear cut way for him to reach voters. To get his message out under his terms and not dependent on the earned media. And you know, "Washington Post" and entities like that.

BOLLING: Now, Ric, one of the other things he talked, he hit a lot of Republican talking points, there is no doubt. But he spent some time on the gun debate. Fairly substantial amount of time on the gun debate, pro- Second Amendment, pro-NRA, and what not. Did he -- is he bringing people in? Is he just checking the boxes of all the talking points? All the, you know, the typical conservative values?

GRENELL: No, look, I think that he's got a very difficult path here, that Donald Trump is the outsider. Has to hold that base of support of people who are really tired of Washington, D.C. But at the same time, you've got all us pundits who are kind of D.C. and Washington, D.C. centric, and we don't get it. We're not in touch with the actual people. What people are saying is, you don't have to endorse these old, tired ideas and old, tired politicians in order to get the rank and file, and what I think Donald Trump is doing, he's picking and choosing.

He's deciding who is with him and who has this largest message of being for the people, and he's not trying to just say to every Republican politician, you're part of the future, but I think the reality is today, because of his poll numbers going down, he's realizing that some of these senators who are in fights, who are more kind of with the people right now, who have an election in November, they need his support.

He needs theirs. And he needs to look like he's leading a party. So it could be a marriage of convenience for a short period of time in order to win elections, but I think Trump is picking and choosing what works with the people, not so much Washington, D.C. That's classic Trump.

O'REILLY: Juan, I have about 30 seconds. So, we expected him to endorse Paul Ryan. The Senator McCain endorsement and the Kelly Ayotte endorsement, were kind of a surprise. Now, he's had quite a history with McCain. You think McCain was surprised, too?

WILLIAMS: Yes. The whole thing came across as so reluctant, Eric. I think this is like Richie Rich got his hand smacked and his parents said go upstairs, you're not having dinner until you apologize. So, you see him reading from the script. He couldn't even stay on the script. He couldn't even say, hey, I endorse Paul Ryan. Instead, he has to start talking about party unity and then the baby that was crying. He goes on and on with this new name, the queen of corruption. It just seems so reluctant. And I think that's why the guy he didn't endorse, Paul Nealon or whatever said, you know who his preferred candidate. It's not Paul Ryan.

BOLLING: All right. I got to leave it right there.

BOOTHE: He said that to save face, though.

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